Kentucky Thanksgiving

As always my entire family heads to Kentucky for Thanksgiving.  It is the one time each year where my whole family can be together (even if it is only for 24 hours in some cases).  The weather was gorgeous, so much so that while the turkey was baking we were outside playing baseball!  I think that must be a Thanksgiving first!  The little boys couldn't get enough of uncle Nick and they wanted to be sure to sit by him at the table.  It was cute to see. 

We were able to go to a University of Louisville football game while we were in town, but despite it being sunny, there was a definite chill in the air that I was not used to!  It was an exciting game that went in to overtime, but sadly didn't end in our favor. 

We also had a new family picture taken.  I took a few with my camera, and we have gotten a few back from the photographer, but I'm hoping they look better than these!   Such a great Thanksgiving.  We have so much to be thankful for and I couldn't think of a better way to spend it than with family.

Nick and Liam playing some Thanksgiving baseball!  I must document that it was 68 degrees and perfect outside!

 Nick and baby Tess taking a break from decorating my parents tree

Cousins-Tess and Henrik

Kevin's family:  Bennett, Rachel, Tess, Kevin, Liam

Kyle's family:  Kyle, Becky, Henrik

Us

I Love UofL

I was a cold but smiling fan

We fired up the pizza oven outdoors for a a delicious meal

Here is a group photo of everyone from the photographer

Our "professional" pic.  It was sure sunny outside, I needed some shades on.

Hopefully more family pics to come.  

Fall time and Friends

We had a busy fall this year spending time with some of our good friends.  I had so much girlfriend time in November and I loved it!!

I went to Time Out for Women in Phoenix this year for the first time with a few of my friends that live in West Phoenix, so I don't get together with them as often as I wish.  We had a great weekend listen to the speakers and the great music.  So much fun, love these ladies.

The same weekend a few of us wanted to help Brooke celebrate her upcoming wedding.  We had such a great time and stayed at a very nice resort in Scottsdale.

Brooke, the bride-to-be and me

Less than a week later we kept the celebration going by hosting a bridal shower for Brooke.

Haha, this picture makes me laugh.  Brooke had a photo booth at her wedding, and we were practicing our poses.  So glad Nick was in town for the occasion.

Our favorite couple the Badger's came to Arizona to play before Thanksgiving so we had such a great time as always.  So excited that they are having a baby in April!

The Ladies

 The Gentlemen

With all the craziness in our lives these days of living apart and bi-coastal, I've gotten to see this guy quite a bit the past two months! I'm going to be in some serious withdrawls once January comes.  Sure do love him and am so grateful for how hard he is working right now.

So much to be thankful for!

Now that we are almost caught up

In pictures here is what the month of October looked like!

I busted this handy machine out to fix a shirt that had gotten a rip in the side.  It may have taken 30 minutes just to thread the machine, but hey 2 hours later I fixed my shirt!  As much as I love my mom for getting me this machine for Christmas a few years ago, she should have also gotten me lessons :)

There have been some AMAZING Arizona sunsets

Nick came to AZ for a visit, and lucky for him we had even more great sunsets!

After much convincing, Nick finally agreed to braces now that invisalign is offered in my office!  Here he is loving the impressions.  He has them in now, and it is amazing how much I cannot even tell he is wearing them.

I've been in a total organizational mode lately.  I've been sorting through boxes of pictures and finally sent them to scanmyphotos.com.  I had bought a groupon awhile back and sent in a 1,000 pictures to be put on a digital cd.

Life is keeping us busy!

Goodrich Girls Gatlinburg Getaway

I'm still playing catch up!  So much so that my mom the other day commented on how no one posted about the Goodrich Girl's Trip on their blog.  Well,  mom...this one's for you!

The annual Goodrich Girls Trip took us to the Smokey Mountains of Gatlinburg, TN the last weekend of September.  We all flew into Knoxville and after some very delayed flights--we all finally were united despite it being 3am!  This year was so fabulous because not only were my Grandma Goodrich's immediate girls (my mom-Terry, my Aunt-Carol, myself, and my sister-Katherine) in attendance, but so were my two sister-in-laws and even my cousin's wife!  Literally, we had all the girls!!  It was so great!  My mom rented an awesome cabin with views from every angle, a hot tub, pool table, tv's we couldn't figure out how to work, and a full wrap around porch that we spent most of our time on.

Day 1: was spent at the Smoky Mtn Aquarium and at the Outlet Mall.  I've been to a few aquariums, but I must say this was the best done of all of them--so if you ever get the chance to go, it's a must.  Pigeon Forge was full of several huge outlet malls.  Needless to say when a group of women are together, no arm twisting is required to shop.

All of us, minus Christa at the aquarium

Mom and I enjoying the exhibits

My cousin's wife, Christa, is quite the photographer.  Love this picture she captured of Katherine.

It was so great having the two babies of the family with us.  They were so happy the entire weekend, except in the car :)

Tess and Henrik

Day 2: was by far the highlight of the trip, one word-Dollywood!  My sister in law, Becky, has always wanted to go to Dollywood.  So when we decided on the location for the trip this year, she couldn't have been more thrilled to go to Dollywood.  At first it took convincing the get everyone to go, but Dolly did not disappoint.  There is so much to do and stuff for all ages.  We saw a bird show, steam engine train rides, outdoor stages all over the park full of live country music, roller coasters, food, shops, museums, movies about the Smoky Moutains and Dolly Parton's life, and somehow all that was a little over $50!  Talk about getting your money's worth.  The day was terrific, minus a little downpour of rain that may or may not have left Grandma soaked.  The babies were so great and we all left talking about how much fun we had.  We ended the night back at the cabin eating fudge and watching old family videos with 8 of us packed into two beds.

Dolly Parton is quite the icon!

Loved this train and all the fall decorations

Tess and Henrik were so excited!

My mom's girls

The "young girls" outside the Dolly Museum

The entire group--loving Dollywood

Seriously, the best gift shop ever!  Katherine passed on this shirt, but Carol didn't :)

Gotta love the blue Christmas tree up all year round and the oversize Dolly night shirt.

Henrik loving some country and still smiling even as the park is closing.

Day 3: was spent still talking about how great Dollywood was!  We decided to go into downtown Gatlinburg and take the aerial tram ride up the mountains for a scenic view.  Had to be sure to hold on to mom, as she has been known to even get sick on a ferris wheel!  We went to lunch at a great place called the Apple Barn (another must stop) and had an impromptu photo shoot of Grandma and her great-grand babies.  It was hard to believe that the three days flew by so quickly.  It was back home for everyone the next day, but not before one last stop at the outlets!

Mom and Me

Grandma Goodrich with Tess and Henrik

Kat and I enjoying the last night of great views

I absolutely love that the ladies of my family do this trip every year.  It is so great to all get together, reconnect, and laugh hysterically at late night games.  Seriously, not quite sure how I have such a great family--but I do and am so thankful for them all.  Time to get planning next year, and hopefully it won't involve any early morning bears (too scared to even write about that one)!

Summer Wrap Up

It's hard to believe how fast summer went by this year.  It seems like it isn't time for sweaters and hot chocolate, although I'm not complaining. :)  We had a great summer which included a visit from my sister, Katherine.  The only thing on her wish list was to go to the beach, so I was happy to make that happen.  We spent at day at the beach, a day downtown shopping and exploring the river front, and before I could get any sleep the weekend was over and she headed back to DC.

 

Katherine and I along the pier of Cape Fear

 

Nice to enjoy the weekends together



 

One weekend we headed with our new friends to Myrtle Beach to do some outlet shopping and to visit Broadway at the Beach  It's only about a 40 minute drive south and they have 4 HUGE outlet malls (think Palm Springs big).  Broadway at the Beach is a  huge pier that has all sorts of entertainment, restaurants, shops, and all the souvenir junk you could imagine.  We had a fun day with Jenny and Jesse and I'd say Nick lucked out the most with some new irons from the golf superstore.  Happy belated birthday present to him. We had such a great day trip, that we plan on going back for a weekend sometime in the near future.

 



Jenny and I at Broadway at the Beach

 

 

I've decided Myrtle Beach is the home of putt putt golf!!  Everywhere you looked there was a different course.  Here is Nick and I at one of the many putt putt places.

 

Just as summer was finishing up Nick entered a 5k race to benefit Historic Downtown Wilmington.  The race started in downtown and went along the cape fear river walk.  He decided it was a lot harder to run in the humidity that summer brings to NC.  He finished with a great time and as always is representing ASU.

 

 

Summer couldn't end with one last beach day (although it was 80 here yesterday and I was tempted to go).  I''m going to miss these summer tans.

 

Wrightsville Beach



Birthdays and Anniversary

Mid -August through mid-September is always so busy crazy, but in a good way.  There is so much to celebrate.  I flew to North Carolina in time for our 4th anniversary.  We decided no gifts this year, but instead we wanted to do something together. On our actual anniversary Nick had to work, but came home with beautiful flowers and I made a nice dinner.  The next night we went to Raleigh to see a Cirque Du Soleil show.  It was so great.  We thought about getting a hotel, but decided to make the two hour drive home and had one of those great life talks.  Sure do love him!

Next up:  Jen's 29th Birthday!  Somehow birthdays always do sneak up.  I wanted a Nook Tablet so I could have a new toy since I'm travelling so much and have loved it.  I got it as an early birthday present at the beginning of summer when all the traveling started.  I was in Arizona for my birthday and Nick was in AZ, but he was sure to make me fill loved with these beautiful flowers.

I had to go to an all day 8 hour continuing education invisalign training for work on my birthday, but my co-workers are my second family and they were sure to take me out that night and spoil me.  I'm one lucky lady.

Happy 29th to me!

Less than two weeks later I flew to North Carolina to help Nick celebrate the big 3-0!  My sister, Katherine came down from DC for the weekend, so it was great to have her help us celebrate.  Nick's birthday was on Saturday, so he had the day off!  We started that morning at the beach, out to lunch, a trip to the driving range, out to dinner, and a trip to eat Britt's donuts (Nick's new favorite thing--see previous post about Wilmington).  Nick got some new golf clubs (only the irons, I guess there is a difference) and some new golf shoes.

Nick loved teaching Katherine everything he knew about how to have a great swing

Check out his form

I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard with this girl

Birthday dessert

We literally are growing old together :)